The author is a professor who narrates his arrival to a Pittsburgh Public School and analyzes the relationships built between the teachers and the students.
He explains that classrooms were culturally imbalanced, but that the relationship students had with their teacher and between themselves did not depend on their racial or gender composition nor on their socio-economic classes but on the respect they had built. Each classroom had its unwritten implied rules and respect between the students and teachers was negotiated in different ways, impacting therefore differently in the students learning and performance.
The author underlines the importance of mutual respect in a classroom culture. By narrating his experience, he illustrates how the teacher that acknowledges students’ abilities and draws clear but invisible boundaries will receive acknowledgement back from the students on his desire to teach them, and how the class will allow learning to take place, instead of focusing on expanding the boundaries as much as possible.

Reference Website:

Publishing House:

Year of Publication:

2005

Upload date:

11/19/2013

What transformation/reform does this initiative pursue?

Building mutual respect in classrooms.

What policy/practice has been put in place to achieve this change?

n/a

What evidence exists to demonstrate that this intervention is having the desired result?